Bruno Mars’ “Young Girls”: Hear The Album Version

Earlier this month Bruno Mars unveiled “Young Girls” on Saturday Night Live, but now the studio version of the song has hit the web. The opening track off Unorthodox Jukebox (out December 11) showcases delicate but dynamic production, with strings commingling with fuzz in the opening bars, reminiscent of Lana Del Rey.

Mars effortlessly combines his retro crooner sensibilities with modern sonic flourishes here: the pre-chorus could be from a ’60s girl group, while the thumping percussion and bits of electro flitting in the background are firmly planted in modern pop. It serves as a nice flipside to the bombastic lead single “Locked Out Of Heaven.” Take a listen below.

It’s not reminiscent of Lana Del Ray. ‘Video Games’ didn’t have that type of production. The reason why they both sound like that is because this song was produced by Jeff Bhasker (who has worked with Bruno on his first album- ‘Talking to the Moon’) and Emile Haynie, who are also Lana’s producers. The band fun, and even Kanye West, have that type of production as well, because that’s Jeff Bhasker and Emile Haynie’s (especially Emile) signature sound.